June 11, 2026
Memorial of Saint Barnabas, Apostle
Lectionary: 580/362
Reading 1
In those days a great number who believed turned to the
Lord.
The news about them reached the ears of the Church in Jerusalem,
and they sent Barnabas to go to Antioch.
When he arrived and saw the grace of God,
he rejoiced and encouraged them all
to remain faithful to the Lord in firmness of heart,
for he was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith.
And a large number of people was added to the Lord.
Then he went to Tarsus to look for Saul,
and when he had found him he brought him to Antioch.
For a whole year they met with the Church
and taught a large number of people,
and it was in Antioch that the disciples
were first called Christians.
Now there were in the Church at Antioch prophets and teachers:
Barnabas, Symeon who was called Niger,
Lucius of Cyrene,
Manaen who was a close friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said,
“Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul
for the work to which I have called them.”
Then, completing their fasting and prayer,
they laid hands on them and sent them off.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (see 2b) The Lord has revealed to the nations his
saving power.
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
His right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
break into song; sing praise.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
Sing praise to the LORD with the harp,
with the harp and melodious song.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
sing joyfully before the King, the LORD.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I give you a new commandment:
love one another as I have loved you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus said to his disciples:
"I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that
of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.
"You have heard that it was said to your ancestors,
You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.
But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother
will be liable to judgment,
and whoever says to his brother, Raqa,
will be answerable to the Sanhedrin,
and whoever says, 'You fool,' will be liable to fiery Gehenna.
Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar,
and there recall that your brother
has anything against you,
leave your gift there at the altar,
go first and be reconciled with your brother,
and then come and offer your gift.
Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him.
Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge,
and the judge will hand you over to the guard,
and you will be thrown into prison.
Amen, I say to you,
you will not be released until you have paid the last penny."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061126.cfm
Commentary on Acts
11:21-26, 13:1-3
As described in verses just prior to today’s First Reading,
the results of the early persecution were to scatter the Jewish Christians to
places like Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch. Phoenicia was a country about 15
miles wide and 120 miles long stretching along the northeastern Mediterranean
coast (corresponding to modern Lebanon). Its important cities were Tyre and
Sidon, which are mentioned in the Gospels. The Phoenicians were legendary
seafarers.
Cyprus is an island in the north-eastern Mediterranean and
was the home of Barnabas the Apostle. Antioch, on the river Orontes, was the
capital of the Roman province of Syria, and the third largest city of the
empire after Rome and Alexandria. It was 25 km (15 miles) inland from the
northeast corner of the Mediterranean. The first mainly gentile local
church was located here. In many ways, it would become the headquarters
for the mission to the Gentiles, and from here, Paul (in today’s reading still
called “Saul”) would launch his three missionary journeys—more about them
later.
Today we have the story of the Church’s being founded in
Antioch in Syria. Chronologically, it was an immediate sequel to the
martyrdom of Stephen and the savage persecution which followed and scattered
the Jerusalem Christians in many directions. However, in between these
readings, we have been looking at the work of the deacon Philip and Peter’s
involvement with the Gentiles. We also saw the conversion of Saul, which
is presumed to have already taken place.
At first the refugees only evangelised their
fellow-Jews. But then Jewish Christians from places like Cyprus and
Cyrene, on the north coast of Africa, who were used to more pluralistic
societies, also began to approach “Hellenists”, i.e. Greeks who were not
circumcised—in other words, non-Jews. These people responded very well
and many became disciples of the Lord Jesus.
They used the term “Lord” Jesus rather than “Christ”, which
was a title more suited to Jewish audiences with messianic expectations.
With the non-Jews, Jesus was more usually called “Lord”. He is “Lord”
because, elevated to God’s right hand, he now rules over the Kingdom which he
inaugurated:
The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number
became believers and turned to the Lord.
This showed God’s approval and blessing on their work,
sometimes indicated by signs and wonders. It was the beginning of the
‘church’ at Antioch, one of many ‘churches’ to be set up in the following
years.
When all this came to the ears of the people in Jerusalem,
who were still thinking primarily in terms of Christians only as Jews, they
sent Barnabas to investigate. Jerusalem, where the Apostles were centred,
had a right of supervision over other churches. And so, the sending of
Barnabas was in keeping with Jerusalem’s policy of sending leaders to check on
new ministries coming to their attention. As a Hellenistic Jew from
Cyprus, Barnabas was an obvious choice for this mission.
It is clear that Barnabas was very happy with what he found:
When he came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced, and
he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast devotion…
He saw clearly that the gentile converts were very genuine,
and encouraged the local church to continue what it was doing. About Barnabas,
Luke comments in Acts:
…he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.
These are similar words that had also been used to describe
Stephen.
Then, Barnabas went off to Tarsus, a city in the province of
Cilicia, in what is now the south-eastern corner of Turkey, and brought Saul
back to Antioch. Saul had been forced to return to Tarsus after his conversion
because the Christians would not believe in its genuineness. They
believed he was simply trying to infiltrate the Christian communities with the
intention of destroying them. In Antioch, this resulted in even greater numbers
joining the church community under the leadership and formation of Saul and
Barnabas, who stayed on for a whole year in the city.
Once again we see innovation and new ground coming from the
fringe rather than from the centre and how, after discernment, it is seen to be
a valid development. In our Church today, it is still the fringe which
pioneers, while the role of Rome is to consolidate.
It is also an example of the phrase: “The world writes the
agenda for the Church.” It was the influence of a local situation which
led to the new insights that were seen as a valid development of the Christian
vision.
It was here, too, we are told that the “disciples”, that is,
the followers of Jesus’ Way, were first given the nickname “Christians”. This
also indicates that those who first coined the term took ‘Christ’ to be a
personal name rather than a title. It is not certain whether the
followers adopted the name themselves, or whether it was used by enemies as a
term of contempt.
In either case, it is a fitting title for those who attach
themselves to Jesus and his Way, and we too should be proud of this nickname. It
is not something we should hide, nor is it a name that we should dishonour by
our behaviour—and still less wear lightly.
The reading then names the “prophets and teachers” in the
Church at Antioch. It ends with the Holy Spirit’s coming upon them all “while
they were worshiping the Lord and fasting” and saying:
Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which
I have called them.
Then they “were sent off”. Although Barnabas and Saul would
later split up (over a disagreement as to whether John Mark should accompany
them), these two proclaimed the Word of the Lord far and wide on their
missionary journeys as the Apostles to the Gentiles.
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Commentary on
Matthew 5:20-26
In today’s reading continuing the Sermon on the Mount, what
Jesus means by saying that he has not come to abolish the old Law but to
transcend it is made clear by Jesus’ giving six examples of how a number of Old
Testament sayings are to be understood by his followers. In fact, he says that
if we wish to be his followers and do his work, we must move forward to the
deeper level of understanding he proposes:
For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of
the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
It is clear from what we see of the scribes and Pharisees in
the Gospels, that for them, religious virtue consisted in the most exact
external observance of every detail of Jewish Law. The more perfect the
observance of the letter of the Law, they argued, the closer one was to God.
Jesus challenged that understanding and it led to serious confrontations with
the religious leadership.
Of course, the way of the scribes and Pharisees has its
attractions. It is a much easier way to measure one’s obedience to God. And one
finds the same among other religions today. Among Christians (including
Catholics), one finds that there are some people who are very anxious to know
whether a certain action ‘is a sin’ or not. Such an approach leads in many
cases to scrupulosity and fear, finding sin even in minutiae. God becomes a
menacing shadow ready to strike at the smallest wrongdoing.
When speaking of the Jewish law, the first example Jesus
gives is of the commandment:
You shall not murder [kill]. (Exodus 20:13)
Jesus’ understanding of this commandment goes far beyond the
actual killing of another person. He extends it even to anger and abusive
language. And anger can often be totally locked inside and invisible to an
outsider. Jesus says:
But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or
sister, you will be liable to judgment, and if you insult a brother or sister,
you will be liable to the council, and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be
liable to the hell of fire.
In other words, Jesus excludes any kind of violent behaviour
towards a brother or sister, either in action, or word, or even thought.
He also links our interpersonal behaviour to our
relationship to God. It is no good, then, piously bringing our offering to the
altar in the Temple and presenting it to God while we are—through our own
fault—in conflict with a brother or sister. We cannot separate our relationship
with God and with that of a brother or sister. This will be spelt out in other
parts of the Gospel. Before we make our offering, we must first be reconciled
with our offended brother or sister and only then, after the injury has been
healed, make our offering. Jesus also recommends early reconciliation if only
to avoid greater troubles later on. It is not worth going to jail simply out of
hatred or anger towards another.
All this is very relevant to us. Whenever we celebrate the
Eucharist, we should recall what Jesus says in this text and put it into
practice. Before we make our offering of the bread and wine, we are invited, at
the beginning of the Eucharist, to confess our sins to God and to the gathered
community:
I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and
sisters, that I have sinned…
How often do we really think about what we are saying at
this time?
Again, before sharing with others in the Body and Blood of
the Lord, we pray:
…forgive us our sins as we forgive those who offend us…
And we are also invited to make a sign of peace with all
those around us. For how can we share in the Body and Blood of the Lord if we
are at enmity with a brother or sister who is a member of that same Body? But
again, so often this is just an empty gesture, with very little real meaning
and, for the most part, made to someone we do not even know. Let us work to put
the meaning back into what can so easily degenerate into a meaningless ritual.
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Thursday,
June 11, 2026
10th Week in Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
God of wisdom and love, source of
all good, send your Spirit to teach us your truth and guide our actions in your
way of peace.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Gospel Reading - Matthew 5: 20-26
Jesus said to his disciples: 'For I tell you,
if your uprightness does not surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees, you
will never get into the kingdom of Heaven.
'You have heard how it was said to
our ancestors, You shall not kill; and if anyone does kill he must answer for
it before the court. But I say this to you, anyone who is angry with a brother
will answer for it before the court; anyone who calls a brother
"Fool" will answer for it before the Sanhedrin; and anyone who calls
him "Traitor" will answer for it in hell fire.
So then, if you are bringing
your offering to the altar and there remember that your brother has something
against you, leave your offering there before the altar, go and be reconciled
with your brother first, and then come back and present your offering.
Come to terms with your opponent in good time while you
are still on the way to the court with him, or he may hand you over to the
judge and the judge to the officer, and you will be thrown into prison. In
truth I tell you, you will not get out till you have paid the last penny.'
Reflection
The text of today’s Gospel is
placed in a lager unity: Mt 5: 20 to Mt 5: 48. In this Matthew shows us how
Jesus interpreted and explained the Law of God. Five times he repeats the
phrase: “You have heard how it was said to our ancestors, but I say to you!”
(Mt 5: 21, 27, 33, 38, 43). According to some Pharisees, Jesus was eliminating
the law. But it was exactly the contrary. He said: “Do not imagine that I have
come to abolish the Law and the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to
complete them” (Mt 5: 17). Before the Law of Moses, Jesus has an attitude of rupture and of continuity. He breaks away from the mistaken interpretation which
was closed up in the prison of the letter, but he affirms categorically the
last objective of the law: to attain to the greatest justice, which is Love.
In the communities for which Matthew
writes his Gospel there were diverse opinions concerning the Law of Moses. For
some, it no longer had any sense, for others it should be observed even up to
the minimum details. Because of this there were many conflicts and disputes.
Some said of the others that they were stupid and idiot. Matthew tries to help
both groups to better understand the true sense of the Law and presents some
counsels of Jesus to help them face and overcome the conflicts which arose
within the families and the communities.
•
Matthew 5: 20: Your justice should surpass that
of the Pharisees. This first verse gives the general key to everything which
follows in Mt 5: 20-48. The Evangelist indicates to the communities how they
should practice a greater justice which surpasses the justice of the Scribes
and the Pharisees and which leads to the full observance of the law. Then,
after this general key on a greater justice, Matthew quotes five very concrete
examples of how to practice the Law, in such a way that its observance leads to
the perfect practice of love. In the first example of today’s Gospel, Jesus
reveals what God wanted in giving Moses the fifth commandment, “Do not kill!”
•
Matthew 5: 21-22: Do not kill. “You have heard
how it was said to our ancestors, you shall not kill and if anyone does kill,
he must answer for it before the court." (Ex. 20: 13). To observe fully
this fifth commandment, it is not sufficient to avoid murdering. It is
necessary to uproot from within oneself everything which in one way or other can
lead to murder, for example, anger, hatred, the desire of vengeance,
exploitation, etc. “anyone who is angry with his brother will answer for it
before the court”. That is, anyone who is angry against the brother merits or
deserves the same punishment of condemnation by the court which, according to the ancient law, was reserved to the
murderer! But Jesus goes beyond all this. He wants to uproot the origin of
murder: “Anyone who calls a brother ‘Fool’ will answer for it before the
Sanhedrin; and anyone who calls him ‘Traitor’ will answer for it in hell fire”.
In other words, I observe truly the commandment “Not to kill if I succeed to
take away from my heart any sentiment of anger which leads to insult the
brother. That is, if I attain the perfection of love.
•
Matthew 5: 23-24: The perfect worship wanted by
God. “If you are bringing your offering to the altar and there you remember
that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before
the altar, go and be reconciled with your brother first, and then come back
sand present your offering”. In order to be accepted by God, and be united to
him, it is necessary to be reconciled with the brother, with the sister. Before
the destruction of the Temple, in the year 70, when the Christians still participated
in the pilgrimages to Jerusalem to take their offering to the altar of the
Temple, they always remembered this phrase of Jesus. Now in the years 80’s, in
the moment in which Matthew writes, the Temple and the Altar no longer existed.
The community itself had become the Temple and the Altar of God (1
Co 3: 16).
•
Matthew 5: 25-26: To be reconciled. One of the
points on which the Gospel of Matthew insists the most is reconciliation,
because in the communities of that time there were many tensions among the
groups which had different tendencies, without any dialogue. Nobody wanted to
give in or cede before the other. Matthew enlightens this situation with words
of Jesus on reconciliation which demand acceptance and understanding. Because
the only sin which God does not forgive is our lack of forgiveness of others
(Mt 6: 14). For this reason, he seeks reconciliation first, before it is too
late.
•
The ideal of greatest justice. Five times, Jesus
quotes a commandment or a usage of the ancient law: Do not kill. (Mt 5: 21), Do
not commit adultery (Mt 5: 27), Do not bear false witness (Mt 5: 33), Eye for
eye, tooth for tooth 5: 38), To love neighbor and to hate the enemy (Mt 5: 43).
And five times he criticizes the ancient way of observing these commandments and
he indicates a new way to attain justice, the objective of the law (Mt 5:
22-26; 5: 28-32; 5: 34-37; 5: 39-42; 5: 44-48). The word Justice is present seven times in the Gospel of Matthew (Mt 3: 15;
5: 6, 10, 20; 6: 1, 33; 21: 32). The religious ideal of the Jews of that time
was “to be just before God”. The Pharisees taught: “A person attains justice
before God when he/she observes all the norms of the Law in all the details!”
This teaching resulted in a legalistic oppression and produced much anguish in
persons of good will, because it was very difficult for a person to be able to
observe all the norms (Rm 7: 21-24). This is why Matthew takes some words of
Jesus on justice showing that this leads to surpass the justice of the
Pharisees (Mt 5: 20). For Jesus, justice does not come from what I do for God
observing the law, but from what God does for me, accepting me with love, like
a son, like a daughter. The new ideal that Jesus proposes is this: "To be
perfect as the Heavenly Father is perfect!” (Mt 5: 48). That means: I will be
just before God, if I try to accept and to forgive persons as God accepts and
forgives me gratuitously in spite of my many defects and sins.
Personal Questions
•
Which are the more frequent conflicts in my
family? And in our community? Is reconciliation easy in the family and in the
community? Yes or no? Why?
•
The advice of Jesus, how can this help me to
improve relationships in the sphere of our family and of the community?
Concluding Prayer
Lord, you visit the earth and make it fruitful, you
fill it with riches; the river of God brims over with water, you provide the
grain. (Ps 65: 9)
Barnabas (whose original name was Joseph) was born of Jewish
parents on the island of Cyprus about the beginning of the Christian Era. As a
Levite (from which tribe the Temple priests came), he naturally spent much time
in Jerusalem, probably even before the death of Jesus. He even seems to have
settled there, where his relatives (the family of John Mark) had their homes
(Acts 12:12). As well, he also had land which, following his conversion, he
sold and donated the proceeds to the Christian community (Acts 4:36-37).
Probably because of his success as a preacher he was given the name Barnabas,
meaning “son of encouragement or consolation” by the community. Though little
is known of his early life in the Church, he seems to have been a person of
some influence in the community.
When Saul, now preaching Christ as Saviour, had to flee from
Jews in Damascus, he went to Jerusalem where the Christians did not want to
approach him, being highly suspicious of the genuineness of his conversion. It
was Barnabas who brought Saul to the leaders and guaranteed Saul’s conversion
as real (Acts 9:27), although Saul (by then called Paul) said later on that he
had only met Peter and James on that occasion (Galatians 1:18-19). Saul, probably
feeling he was not yet accepted, then withdrew to his home town of Tarsus,
while Barnabas seems to have remained in Jerusalem.
The event that brought them together again and opened to
both the door to their lifework was ironically an indirect result of Saul’s own
persecution. Among those who fled Jerusalem were some Christians from Cyprus
and Cyrene who began preaching the Gospel to non-Jews in Antioch with great
effect (Acts 11:20). When the news reached the leaders in Jerusalem, they sent
Barnabas (who was a Cypriot himself) to investigate. Although a Jew, he saw the
hand of God in what was going on. He then went to Tarsus to look for his friend
Saul and persuaded him to go back with him to Antioch. Together they spent a
whole year in Antioch preaching and labouring at Antioch and “taught a great
many people”.
About this time too, when a severe famine struck Jerusalem,
the Christians at Antioch made a collection and sent it to Jerusalem with
Barnabas and Saul. (At this point in the story, Barnabas is being mentioned
before Saul.) At the end of their mission, they returned to Antioch, bringing
Barnabas’ cousin, John Mark, with them.
The church at Antioch now felt emboldened to reach further
afield. So Barnabas and Saul, together with John Mark, were sent on what is now
called Paul’s First Missionary Journey. They went first to preach the Gospel in
Barnabas’ homeland, Cyprus, and then moved to Perge in Pampyhilia on the
mainland (South Turkey today). Here John Mark left them; the reason is not
given, but we know Saul felt it was a kind of desertion. From here the two
Apostles continued inland visiting a number of towns. They usually evangelised
their fellow Jews first in each place, but often met with fierce opposition and
then would turn to the Gentiles. At Lystra, after they cured a lame man, they
were taken for gods (Paul for Hermes or Mercury and Barnabas for Jupiter), but
when the Apostles told them to stop, the crowd turned against them and Saul was
attacked and left for dead. They then retraced their route and set up Christian
communities with local leaders in each place. On reaching Antioch again, they
reported to their community on how God:
…had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. (Acts
14:27)
However, some of the Christians in Jerusalem were not happy
with what they had heard and were insisting that circumcision was obligatory on
all non-Jewish converts. This led to the ‘Council of Jerusalem’ where the
Christians from Antioch defended their policy and in the end won the approval
of the whole assembly. But it was not quite the end of the controversy. Peter,
after being criticised for socialising with Gentiles, stopped doing so and so
apparently did Barnabas. For this they were publicly criticised by Paul.
Soon after this, Paul (now mentioned first) and Barnabas
decided to repeat their earlier missionary journey. However, Barnabas wanted to
take his cousin John Mark with them. Paul disagreed strongly, so they split.
Paul continued on with Silas while Barnabas with Mark went to their native
Cyprus.
From this time on, we know little or nothing of Barnabas’
life story. He still seems to be working as an Apostle in the year 56 or 57. In
1 Corinthians (9:6) we learn that he is earning his own living, with the
indication that he is on good terms with Paul. Later, we know that John Mark,
in another sign of reconciliation, was with Paul (who was then a prisoner in
Rome during the years 61-63). John Mark’s presence has been taken as an
indication that Barnabas is no longer alive.
Various traditions tell of Barnabas as the first Bishop of
Milan, preaching at Alexandria and Rome. He is said to have converted Rome’s
fourth bishop, St Clement and, finally, to have suffered martyrdom in his
native Cyprus. None of these stories can be validated. Tertullian (with little
support) thinks Barnabas wrote the Letter to the Hebrews, and there is also
an Epistle of Barnabas attributed to him. After the Twelve and
Paul, Barnabas is one of the most esteemed figures among the first generation
of Christians. Luke, in a rare moment of candour, speaks of Barnabas with
affection, saying:
…he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.
(Acts 11:24)
Barnabas is remembered not only for his missionary zeal but
for his openness (as a Jew) to the Gentiles, and for his seeing in the former
fanatical Pharisee, Saul, the potential to be a great Apostle for Christ and
the gospel.
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